Michigan Area United Methodist Camping launches a new brand — Grace Outside — and website with hopes of expanding its reach.

JAMES DEATON
Content Editor

Grace Outside tells a story that today’s families need to hear: Experiencing God’s grace outside creates love inside. This message reiterates what we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and the overuse of technology. Isolation and detachment are real, especially for children and teens, and being in nature is a proven God-given pathway for healing and reconnection.

Camping is a practical ministry that gets people away from their regular routine into a different space and time for God to speak to their lives in new ways. These spaces are outdoors and in nature. United Methodists in Michigan have been camping for generations. And they continue to do so through ongoing creative partnerships and programming.

Grace Outside is a ministry of Michigan Area United Methodist Camping (MAUMC), an independent nonprofit birthed out of the Michigan Conference following the conference union in 2015. MAUMC now operates three camps: Lake Michigan Family Campground, Wesley Woods Camp and Retreat Center, and Lake Huron Retreat Center.

One of the primary purposes behind the rebranding was to create a good news message that invites and welcomes everyone, including people not connected to a church. Camp leadership understood that, in this age of denominational uncertainty and cultural shifts in religious affiliation, we must go beyond church walls and reach out to the nones — the spiritual but not religious, and those who do not wish to associate with organized religion.

Rev. David Berkey, Executive Director of MAUMC, explains, “There are parents, young adults, and youth who have developed a negative or confused feeling about anything sponsored by the church or overt ‘Christianity’ as portrayed by many. So, this new ‘Grace Outside’ focus is a way to reach them and become a ‘porch’ to the church or an entryway for others to find grace in God and community and eventually want to follow Jesus.”

Grace Outside is rooted in the rich history and theology of The United Methodist Church and embraces the concept of grace as the unearned love of God. Berkey and camp leadership hope people of all ages will experience God’s grace through camping experiences. As a promotional piece noted, “Whether you grew up in church or have never attended a religious service, Grace Outside offers a welcoming space where you can explore and grow in faith without judgment.”

Camping experiences — moving people outside the traditional four walls of a church building — can be healing and transformative for people within a welcoming environment. Berkey hopes that’s true for the camps under his watch: “We want to develop experiences that engage people’s desire for being outside their comfort zone, outside in nature, outside their tech world, outside the norm that helps them know God and grace and community. And it’s for all ages, urban, rural, suburban people, and all races and cultures.”

Suzanne Everett, Marketing Consultant for MAUMC, believes that camping experiences like the upcoming Winter Blast event at Wesley Woods on February 9-10 are a perfect example of the kinds of breaks we need today for health and wellness. “These types of events,” she notes, “through the school year and going away to summer camp are powerful ways to interrupt the stress and anxiety children and adults experience in their daily lives.”

Finding joy through fun outdoor activities is a beautiful way to experience God’s grace. It’s freeing, opening us to God’s movement. “Fun is important,” says Everett. “It’s so essential to our well-being, and it’s through these fun times when we’re most relaxed that we build important relationships with friends and caring adults who can serve as Christian role models.”

Berkey hopes that the new Grace Outside focus will expand MAUMC’s mission as they seek to reach others with the good news of God’s love for all, and he hopes that it will translate into new faces at the MAUMC camps and retreat centers here in Michigan.

He concludes, “I hope that we can provide experiences that connect people of all ages to discover a transcendent God in our midst, call them to get in touch with their spiritual hunger and need for grace and community, and start to lead them to commit more time, energy, and resources to be in relationship with God in Jesus Christ.”